Is it true that Japanese school kids were involved in the making of the balloon bombs?
Yes. Japan required many high-school female schoolchildren to help create the balloon portion of the balloon bombs. Decades later, a group who had helped make the balloon bombs sent an apology to the families of those that were killed near Bly, Oregon. The letter read: “We, the undersigned, humbly offer our prayers from the bottom of our hearts for the souls of the six who lost their precious lives due to one of the balloon bombs we helped build. On the 44th anniversary of the tragic event that took the lives of your loved ones, we send to you these dolls from Yamagachi as a symbol of our earnest resolve never again to go to war and our fervent hope to bring the people of the world together in genuine love, to live in peace and friendship among us all.” Along with the letter was two Japanese Ouchi dolls that are now on exhibit in the Klamath County Museum in Klamath Falls, Oregon.
